Our Coffee

Coffee cherries:

Our coffee cherries are harvested by hand, called selective picking, from April to September, during Zambia’s dry season. The cherries must be bright red, glossy and firm. Once picked, the coffee cherries must be processed immediately.

 

Pulping:

The pulping machinery removes the red skin from the two coffee beans inside each cherry. The pulp is collected, composted and reused as an ecological fertilizer.

 

Washing:

Wet processing removes the red skin and fleshy pulp material through a process called pulping.

 

Fermentation:

Then the beans go into the fermentation box where the natural process triggers a series of chemical reactions that enhance the flavor quality of the roasted coffee.

 

Sun drying:

The wet beans dry slowly down to 10 – 11% humidity. Workers hand-distribute them on the patio (drying floor). This process takes one to two weeks. The beans must be raked many times to allow them to dry evenly.

 

Cleaning & Storing:

The sun-dried beans – now called “parchment” are put in bags and taken to the warehouse. The machine then removes the parchment and silver skin from each bean. This renders a green bean suitable for roasting. Grading gourmet-quality coffees by size, shape, density and color is the next step.

 

Roasting & Packaging:

The green beans are then roasted to perfection to a light, medium or Espresso roast.